Trader Joe’s Buys 76-acre Brownfield Site for Distribution Center

Approximately 76 acres of land located on the east side of Interstate 95 changed hands recently, Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. announced. Although the company did not name the buyer in the announcement released on August 15, the Orlando Business Journal learned that Trader Joe’s East Inc. had the property under contract for several months as it finalized plans and incentives to build a new regional distribution center in the city’s Aero Park Brownfield Area.

Approximately 76 acres of land located on the east side of Interstate 95 changed hands recently, Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. announced.

Although the company did not name the buyer in the announcement released on August 15, the Orlando Business Journal learned that Trader Joe’s East Inc. had the property under contract for several months as it finalized plans and incentives to build a new regional distribution center in the Aero Park Brownfield Area.

Consolidated-Tomoka reported the transaction was worth close to $7.8 million. This translates to $103,000 per acre resulting in an estimated gain at closing of approximately $3.8 million. An additional gain of approximately $400,000 will be recognized as certain road improvements are completed over the next six months. As part of the seller’s contractual agreement with Trader Joe’s, the Daytona Beach-based real estate firm proposed to prepare the pad site for vertical construction, costing around $2.1 million. In connection with this deal, Consolidated-Tomoka received $400,000 from the CEO Business Alliance as reimbursement for a portion of the pad site costs.

According to the Business Journal, the buyer plans to build an $80 million, 800,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center as part of the grocer’s growth strategy in Florida. The facility will service current and future grocery stores, bringing 450 jobs to the area with an average wage of $40,075. Additionally, 100 related wholesale transportation/logistics jobs will be created.